Some CEOs retire into space. Others moved to Hawaii. But Unity founder David Helgason chose a different path after 12 years at the helm of the game engine company, which went public in 2020 at a valuation of $13.7 billion.
After stepping down as CEO in 2014, Helgason still sits on the board of the now-listed company he founded in Copenhagen in 2004; but most of his time is dedicated to Transition Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm launching in 2021 to focus on climate.
It tells us that the fund is called “transition” and not, he says, “apocalypse.” This is because Helgason is convinced that legacy industries – usually harmful to the environment – will eventually lose out to more sustainable solutions and partly because of his personality. “My friends describe me as a ‘full page one-tenth’ optimist,” he told TechCrunch.
In an interview at his home near Reykjavík, the entrepreneur-turned-VC shared his thoughts on the venture and the journey that led him from Unity to climate technology, various round trips. “It is a shame that the climate crisis is possible,” he said.
Long way home
Unity’s public debut turned Helgason into a billionaire, at least on paper. The market capitalization has declined since then, but the essence remains: He made a lot of money from the company, and this capital has become more liquid over the years.
This makes him a prolific angel investor, fulfilling his natural inclination to spend time with entrepreneurs. But climate worries will have to wait: As the software describes itself, it has no clear way.
That changed when one of his brothers, Ingvar, started a lab-grown leather company, VitroLabs Inc. This led Helgason to get involved with startups and synthetic biology more broadly. Ultimately, that led him to a climate-minded deep tech startup.
In addition to angel investing, Helgason is also a limited partner in many climate-focused funds. “For a while, I claimed that I was the most climate-invested LP,” he said.
Both activities brought him the kind of learning he wanted. “I always wanted to be a scientist,” he recalls. However, in the current situation, he knows he has more value to add as an early stage investor. Thus, Transition Ventures was born as a venture firm. Helgason had (and has) a family office called Foobar. Transition Ventures is a different animal, and not just because of the climate mandate.
The right funds
It would be wrong to think of Transition Ventures as a family affair. Of course, Ari Helgason and his brother Ingvar are one of the four partners, but Ari’s résumé speaks for itself. Originally, Fabricly, participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2010 round before becoming an investor in Dawn Capital and Index Ventures.
A third partner, London-based Atomico alum Kristian Branaes, was on board from day one, with the trio soon hiring New York-based Mona Alsubaei, who studied VC at Union Square Ventures and climate funds. The investment team also includes principal Clara Ricard, who recently made the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2024 list.
While Helgason’s wealth made it possible for Transition to invest directly, the partners also made a point of finding limited partners. “We never considered not doing it as a proper commercial venture fund,” he said. This means joining the ranks of other climate funds such as Chris Sacca’s Climate Capital and Lowercarbon Capital. Despite having an LP, Transition did not disclose the size of the fund it has set or the amount it has invested so far and plans to invest.
Despite the fact that Helgason was able to afford the funds himself, fundraising was not easy. By the time the documents are ready, market conditions have changed.
“Before we could start fundraising properly, the war (in Ukraine) had started and we went from the hottest market in memory to the coldest market in a while, so it was quite a lot of work,” he said.
After the fundraiser ended, Transition Ventures ended up with a mix of LPs that Helgason thinks is pretty healthy: some mission-aligned backers, but also financially driven ones without a climate mandate. In other words, they exist to produce, which is the commitment of commercial venture funds.
Having an LP means having to generate returns, and doing so in a limited amount of time, but Helgason isn’t ideal.
“We are quite disciplined in terms of focusing on timelines, but the climate crisis also requires us,” he said. “We don’t have time to just go around and explore. … We are in business to find companies that are primed to move … then we help to accelerate a lot.
Project portfolio
Because Transition Ventures sees climate as a theme, not a sector, the 12 companies in its portfolio are diverse:
- Electricity Map, which calculates the carbon intensity of electricity consumption to optimize use at scale.
- FabricNano, which hopes to make cell-free biomanufacturing cheaper and more efficient at scale.
- Heat Geek, which provides independent installers with the support they need to accelerate heat pump adoption.
- Odyssey, an online marketplace and software platform that connects investors to renewable energy project developers.
- Phase Biolabs, CO synthetic biology upcycling2 to ethanol and other chemicals.
- Reel, a renewable electricity supplier that allows companies to buy electricity purchase agreements.
- Revoy, a replaceable battery and charging network solution for turning trucks into hybrid and electric vehicles.
- Running Tide, which removes carbon by growing kelp in hatcheries and sinking it into the deep sea.
- Safi, formerly known as TrueCircle, is a B2B marketplace for trading recycling.
- Upway, which makes electric bikes more affordable through refurbishment and recycling.
- Waterplan, which participated in Y Combinator’s summer 2021 batch and helps companies manage water risks.
- DAS, which helps companies decarbonize their business.
Unlike Helgason, none of the companies are Icelandic, but “that was never the plan,” he said. However, Running Tide uses Iceland as an R&D base, with support from an external team assisted by Helgason. Now called Transition Labs, it helps climate technology companies use Iceland and its natural and social characteristics to accelerate scale.
Shortly after starting Transition Labs, Helgason returned to his home country.
“I’ve always wanted to live here,” he said. After spending his life abroad, he now lives in one of the most expensive properties in Iceland; although, that price tag is far from invisible in the Bay Area. The house itself is quite unassuming; its most striking feature is the ocean view.
For people who spend time worrying about global warming, the ocean can be a powerful reminder to take action.
“But for people who say that climate change is not real, I say, it hardly matters, because the crisis is so close,” he said. Whether it’s biodiversity or ocean health, Helgason is impressed by the caliber of founders tackling these issues. “The talent is incredible,” he added.
While Helgason doesn’t consider himself an entrepreneur, he also has a new project, Cleanplay, whose mission is to “make games part of the solution to combating the climate crisis.”
The project is still under wraps, with details to be announced at the Dice Europe conference in September, but we already know that video game hotshot Richard Hilleman is involved, as is Benedikt Franke, CEO of Planetly, a carbon management startup acquired by OneTrust. in 2021.
It seems perfectly fitting for Helgason to combine gaming with climate impact investing, but his heart is now firmly with the latter.
“A few years ago, I decided I would only do climate from now on,” he said. Transition Ventures still has work to do on that front; it is “about halfway” through deploying its capital, in pursuit of an answer to the question on the lips of many investors’: What is the climate solution that is best positioned for size?
Disclosure: Anna Heim traveled to Iceland at the invitation of Business Iceland according to, according to, konjuk in, konjuk in the name Reykjavík Science City.
